Wire Cutters: A Little Tip from Graham

Graham Potter of Kaizen Bonsai holds up his stainless wire cutters so you can get a good look. From one of Graham’s excellent bonsai instruction videos. No more twisting I always thought bonsai wire cutters were shaped the way the are (with stubby blades) so that the tip of the blade doesn’t damage the bark when you remove wire. I still think this is true. However, Graham Potter says that it’s designed this way so the wire doesn’t twist when you cut it. This is news to me, but as I reflect on it, I think it makes sense. Anyone … Continue reading Wire Cutters: A Little Tip from Graham

Screwing Around

Graham Potter’s hands doing the screwing (into a larch). The image is from a video on styling an old larch (the same larch, and the same video we used a few days ago) on Graham’s Kaizen Bonsai site. It’s another way to do the same thing Often, when you want to use wire to pull two parts of a tree closer together, you can find branches or stubs or something else to fasten the wire to. But what if you can’t? Or what if you can, but you are concerned about the wire damaging the part of the tree you … Continue reading Screwing Around

Trunk Splitter, Stump Splitter, What Else?

Graham Potter using a trunk splitter to tear into a large branch stump. It’s from a video on styling an old larch (one of Graham’s excellent videos) on his Kaizen Bonsai site. Why split? Did you know that you can bend thick trunks by splitting them (in half, in thirds, in fourths, etc)? After splitting and bending, you can tie the pieces back together (just the way they were) and, if you do it right, they’ll fuse back into the single trunk you started with (with its new shape, of course). For a detailed description of this process, see page … Continue reading Trunk Splitter, Stump Splitter, What Else?

Beware the Terriers!

A good mix of freshly carved and aged olive wood. The carving was done by Graham Potter. The aged wood is courtesy of Mother Nature and Father Time. Graham’s video series The shots here are from a wood carving demo by Graham Potter; one of many in an excellent, ongoing series.

Jin & Shari #6: Carving an Old Hornbeam

Here’s a great example of an English hornbeam (Carpinus betulus) that started as large tree that was cut down and carved. The artist is Graham Potter of Kaizen Bonsai. Carving video by Graham Potter If you are interested in carving as well as reducing large field grown trees, check out the video below. It might just open up an entirely new way of doing things for you and your bonsai.